Schumpert Hospital: a dose of nostalgia

At a recent press conference, Christus Health Northern Louisiana explained how a partnership with LSU Health Shreveport and a newly-created non-profit, Margaret Place Properties, will reinvigorate the old Schumpert Hospital.
(Lex Talamo/The Times)

It's good news to know that Schumpert Hospital, with other buildings and acres of land, is being donated to LSU Health Shreveport. How sad it was for many of us, who chose to go there as a patient, when it closed its doors for medical care in 2013.

As an old-timer, I have memories of having been a patient there many times, visiting family and friends and dining numerous times in the cafeteria.

It was there in 1994 that EMS worked on me and then transported me when I was in shock after a man, unknown to me, cut my throat in crime after robbing me of money. There, a plastic surgeon was waiting for me and did a great job to help save my life.

Badly needed in the downtown area of Shreveport is a medical facility-like "Quick Care." There are many residents who could benefit from this. In the good old days, there were at least two medical buildings and several drug stores on Texas and Travis streets. Today, there are none.

With an increase in apartment living with buildings being restored downtown there will be an even greater need for emergency care and just needing to see a doctor.